Cue The Sun
by RJ Lewis the II
Summary: ABANDONED; Read if you wish.
1. Chapter 1

**So, I'm a freak. I'm not even going to promise a certain number of chapters on this, because I honestly don't know how long I'll be writing this. Stupid plot bunnies bit me in the ass last night and I had to write. Next chapter will be longer and hopefully out soon. Reviews always help to keep me writing longer. Feed the addiction!**

**I own nothing. It's a rather sad though, is it not?**

The paint was peeling off the window shutters and even the once bright, brick wall seemed dull and forgotten in the light of the overcast morning. On the door was a length of chain holding the door handles with a large lock in the center. There was no way anyone was getting in the old McGregor Building. The place that had served as Mae's home for the past few months was closed for good.

Walking up to the door anyways, Mae tugged on the lock firmly. The chain clinked together but the lock remained the same, locked tight. Mae kicked the door in frustration and glanced up towards the sky, as if looking for a sign. After a few moments of stillness, she kicked the door again and gave a loud yell while doing do.

A few early rising people watched in mild curiosity as they walked passed but moved along quickly.

Letting out a deep sigh, Mae turned away from the building and stuffed her frozen fingers into the depths of her coat. Not many people were on the streets of Manhattan that day, many staying inside the warmth of their homes. Too bad Mae didn't have one anymore.

--

It was like the apple was mocking her. Even in the dull gray of the morning, the apple still shown a bright, cheery red that just screamed _eat me, eat me!_ It sat patiently at the top of the pile of other apples, just waiting to be snatched up by someone. Mockage seemed to be a strong skill of the apple, Mae decided.

She glanced over to where the vendor was talking intently with a woman over tomatoes and then back to the apple barrel.

Still sitting there.

Her stomach growled in hunger, reminding Mae that she hadn't eaten in almost two days. A quick look over to the side showed that the vendor was now arguing with the woman and would no doubt be preoccupied for at least a few more minutes. Just enough time to grab the apple and make a discreet run for it. If that was possible.

_Eat me! Eat me!_

**Growl**

Mae's stomach gave another loud growl and she wondered if anyone passing by her had heard it. It had been loud enough, at least.

_Eat me! Eat me!_

**Growl**

"What the hell," Mae murmured before walking over to the apple barrel.

While walking past, she reached in and plucked the appealing apple and stuffed it into her tattered coat pocket. It fell into the deepest corner of her pocket happily and Mae's stomach ceased in its own complaints. Mae let out a sigh.

_Peace._

Pausing for a second, waiting for the whistle blows that would warn every one of the police, Mae continued on casually down the block with a grin. She reached into her pocket and shined the apple with her thumb. She could almost hear the squeak as her thumb skidded across the smooth surface. Her mouth watered at the thought of food. Who cared if it was only a measly apple?

Good enough breakfast for the time being. Anything was better than nothing.

Mae almost reached the end of the block and was convinced that no one had seen her steal when Mae felt her arm wrenched back quickly. She stumbled a few steps and checked her pocket to check on the apple.

_Still there._

Mae looked up to tell off the person holding her up and groaned.

_So close._

"Hey, kid," the officer stated, giving her a smirk. "I do believe you have something that don't belong to you?"

Mae didn't have a chance to respond before the office dived into her coat pocket and pulled out the apple with an eye brow raised. "That would be it." He reached behind him and produced a pair of hand cuffs, which the officer proceeded to clap onto Mae's wrists.

_Just spiffy._

She turned around to watch the officer hand the stolen apple back to vendor with an apology. The man took the apple and Mae's stomach growled again as she watched the vendor shake his head and toss the apple out into the street.

--

The refuge came into view as the carriage bumped through the streets of New York noisily. Mae watched through the bars as people stopped to stare at the latest criminal to be caught. She saw looks of pride from snooty business men, and women coaxing their children to stop staring in admiration. A few newsies stopped in their selling to search the carriage for their friends but looked away when seeing only a scrawny seventeen year old, dark haired girl.

_'Don't you just feel loved?' _Mae thought to herself a bit sadly. _'No one out there gives a care about whether not you come back tonight.'_

The carriage gave a violent bump and Mae crashed to the floor of the trailer in a heap. She didn't bother to get up as they continued down the street, instead examining the ceiling of the wooden structure. It didn't take long for the carriage to pull to a stop and someone to open the door of the crate trailer. Mae climbed to her feet and hopped out onto the ground quickly, not wanting into trouble before she even made it into the actual refuge.

The officer who had arrested her grabbed Mae around her upper arm and walked her into the front of the building. Mae didn't pay much attention as he conversed with a man in uniform waiting behind the front desk.

"What's your name kid?" the man asked, looking up from the form he was filling out for her.

Mae hesitated before answering truthfully, "Mae Natalie Harris," she didn't see a point in lying. Either they would find her previous records, or they wouldn't. It didn't honestly matter to Mae, she wasn't breaking her parole anymore by getting arrested.

The man nodded and had Mae answer a few more questions before waving her and the officer through and down the hall. Mae noticed that the refuge was much like Chicago's 'Children's Refinement Institute'. Although it seemed that there weren't very many guards on duty at the moment, or that possibly they didn't even have any. Mae made a note to find out from one of the other kid's about security.

It never hurt to be prepared.

The officer stopped Mae in front of a door with a small rectangular window and turned her around to take off the hand cuffs. She rubbed the slightly red skin to get the blood flowing again and waited for the officer to allow her into her new "suite".

"You know the rules," he stated, obviously assuming her as a second time offender. "Any fights break out and you're into solitary."

Mae gave a small grin and clicked her heels into attention. "Sir, yes, sir!" she yelled, saluting the annoyed officer.

"Get your butt in there," he growled, pushing her into the open room with a hard shove.

"No need to be rude, Sarg!" Mae protested and turned around to face the officer. "Didn't your mother ever teach you to be polite to the ladies?"

The officer gave out a bark of laughter. "When you see one, let me know." He sneered at her before his face turned smug, thinking himself smart for his comeback.

"Lame," she said with a wave of her gloved hand, mocking the already annoyed man further.

He didn't bother to respond and simply spun on his heel and strode from the room, ignoring both Mae and all of the other children in the room.

"Nice people here," Mae muttered, brushing off her coat and throwing the officer a frown just before he shut the door in her face. "Should've stayed in Chicago, girl."

Mae turned away from the door with a shake of her head and was surprised to see a fraction of the kids looking at her oddly. It took her only a few moments to realize that she seemed to be the only girl in the large group of maybe three dozen boys.

_Great._

"Eh. Hey?" Mae gave a slight wave to the watching boys. Most turned away from her after that, returning back to their previous conversations, not seeming to care about the new girl who had stumbled into their room.

One boy though stood up from the back of the room and made his way over to where Mae had sat herself on the ground, exactly where the officer had left her. The boy noticed that the girl was talking to herself, something about bad manners and mocking apples. She didn't seem to be aware of the older boy standing directly before her, so he kicked her gently on the toe of her boot.

Mae looked up from her ponderings to stare directly into one of the only bare light bulbs in the room and winced.

_Pleasant._

She blocked out the light and found a tall, dark brown haired boy staring down at her with an amused expression on his face.

"Hi," Mae stated. She clambered to her feet and held out a hand to the boy politely.

He stared at it for a minute before putting his hand in hers and shaking it briefly. "Jack Kelly," he said, not unkindly. "And you would be?"

"Mae," she answered, not feeling the need to elaborate any further with a complete stranger, no matter how nice he seemed. "I'm new."

"Ya don't say?" another voice said with a laugh as a boy appeared from behind the 'Jack' boy. "I'm Racetrack Higgins. Nice to meet ya," the shorter boy held out his hand to her and Mae didn't hesitate to take it. The name threw her off a bit, but otherwise the boy didn't seem like a complete jerk.

"Racetrack?" she inquired curiously.

Jack gave a laugh and Racetrack threw him a grin before looking back to Mae, "I like my horses," he explained.

"He likes the money his horses make for him," Jack clarified, still laughing softly.

Mae nodded in understanding but didn't say anything further. At least Racetrack seemed to have a way to make money, which was more than Mae could say for herself. To say it simply, this wasn't the first time she'd ever been arrested for stealing. Sometimes, you had to make choices, do the right thing, or starve to death. The choice had always been easy for Mae.

She was brought out of her thoughts by the looks the two boys were giving her. "What?"

Racetrack shook his head, "Just trying to guess what you're in here for, is all."

"Stole a talking apple," Mae supplied easily. She laughed at the two boys when they looked confused. "Long story," she said with another laugh.

Jack shook his head as a grin started spreading across his face, "You're an odd one, Mae," he said, slinging his arm over her shoulder and steered her over to where a group of boys were playing what looked like poker. "But I think you'll do just fine."


	2. Chapter 2

**Not the best chapter so far, but good enough. Show's ****a ****but**** about Mae's past, somewhat. Thanks to my two reviewers **danc4himFlick.TheLighter** for their wonderful reviews. Wasn't expecting much reviews at all, so mucho gracious. By the way, this will not be a one-shot****obviously****, and I'm just ****gonna**** run with it until I get ****outta**** breath.**

**Disclaimer: **I own nothinnnnngggggggg.

**Chapter Two**

The ceiling was in no way entertaining; Mae had figured that out nearly ten minutes ago but still stared at it determinedly. Sleep wasn't coming easily that night but she didn't want to move in fear of waking Ten-Pin up, the younger boy in the bed below her. He was around nine or ten and hadn't questioned her weird quirks and had thought her story of the talking apple had been great. Therefore, the kid was alright in Mae's book. The fact that he reminded her of someone back home helped a bit too.

Her court date had come and passed the day after Mae arrived. It surprised her, having it soon but took the sentence of two weeks confinement without complaint. There wasn't any way Mae was going to actually uphold to her end of the deal. Nice boys or not, she had things to do and staying in a raged refuge for kids wasn't what she'd had in mind. Hence the plan for escape floating around Mae's mind.

All around the girl, the boys were all asleep, either snoring or talking in their sleep. Race was muttering about a rigged game and a younger boy was telling the butterflies to leave him alone. It hadn't taken Mae long to realize that boys were undoubtedly _odd. _How she had never learned that before, living with a group of six girls and three boys, Mae didn't know. The boys in Chicago were diffidently not quite as 'different' as the ones she'd met in New York so far.

Maybe it was something in the water..?

"I don't want your flowers!" yelled a boy from across the room.

Mae stifled a laugh and watched as he lunged through the air, flinging his arms around wildly. The young boy, only six or seven, shot up and looked around confused for a few seconds before falling back onto the mattress and moments later snores could be heard once more.

"Boys..," Mae muttered softly, giggling slightly at the fact that boys dreamed about butterflies and flowers.

She glanced around the room for signs of movement before quietly edging towards the side of the bunk, wincing as the old frame creaked under the movement. Swinging a leg over the side, Mae jumped over the side of the bunk, checking around her to ensure that none of the others had woken up. Seeing no other movement in the room but the breathing of the boys, Mae ran to the door of the room, and pulled a wire out of her pocket.

"Bingo," Mae said with a grin, stuffing the firm wire into the door lock patiently.

The wire caught on something and Mae almost jumped happily. She reached forward and tried the door and had to catch herself from yelling in excitement. It turned!

"So long boys," Mae called softly, turning back to the still sleeping boys with a grin. "I'm out of here."

Mae pulled open the door and stopped short at the tall man blocking her way.

"I had to use the bathroom?" Mae tried, though not surprised when Snyder just shook his head and forced her backed into the room. He reached to the door and yanked out the wire that had been Mae's way to pick the lock open and threw it the ground uncaring.

He reached behind the door and flashed on the lights, waking up many of the boys instantly. The groaned and looked out the window to the still dark sky and back to where Mae stood dumbly next to Snyder in confusion. Jack and Racetrack threw Mae looks of confusion and she just looked away from them in guilt.

"Good evening boys," Synder called out, walking down the row of bunks almost happily. "Thanks to your dear friend Mae you will be scrubbing down this entire bunk room as punishment."

Groans and complaints rang out from the group of boys as they realized they were being ordered to do chores, in the dead of night no less.

"I want this place clean enough to eat off of," Snyder ordered and called out the into the hall, where an officer came in with a stack of buckets and a full bucket of water on the top. Another man followed close behind with a box filled to the brim with already dirty sponges for the boys to use. Mae watched on as the two guards dumped the cleaning supplies onto the floor and walked out briskly, brushing past Mae without much thought.

"Have fun!" Snyder said as he turned back to where Mae was trying to blend into the wall to escape the glares of many of the angry boys.

She glanced up to the nearing Warden and back to the open door before making a rash decision. Kicking over the closet bucket into the path of snyder, Mae bolted out the door at top speed. Behind her she heard the cheers of Jack and a few other boys over the calls of Warden Snyder. She rounded a corner and managed to duck out of the reaching grasp of a near-by officer and sped down the hall.

Around another corner came a group of guards with their stick whackers out and ready to attack Mae. She glanced at the sticks in their grasps and up to the evil smirks that had come over their faces and stopped quickly and put her hands up in surrender, a weak smile on her face.

Yes, Mae wanted to escape the refuge, but she also wanted all of her body parts still intact when the time came to leave.

"Hey boys," Mae said in a small voice as the men drew nearer, "Nice weather we're having, isn't it?"

Footsteps came down the hall and Mae looked away from the armed guards to see Snyder walking leisurly down the hall with seemingly no care in the world. It was like he knew that Mae wouldn't get far with her little escape, which had turned out to be true.

Snyder grinned down at her in an almost evil manner and Mae let out a squeak when he grabbed her by the ear and pulled her down the hall with him painfully. "I do believe you are aware of the rules here, Miss Harris," Snyder told her while dragging Mae down the hall. "You've been here not even a full three days and already you try to run," he tisked at her and finally stopped to pull a key out from his pocket. Synder unlocked the door and pushed her in before shutting and locking the door behind her. "Your new court date will be tomorrow," he called, almost cheerfully through the door. "Have a nice rest of your evening Miss Harris."

Mae sat down on the lone bed hung from the wall with chains in a huff. "Bugger."

--

"Case of Mae Harris under the charge of attempted escape."

Mae trudged forward slowly towards the face of the demeaning judge that had once that week already given her a sentence. Mae could only guess his thoughts, they read plainly on the old man's weathered face.

_I don't like you much either, buddy._ Mae thought sourly, listening as Snyder shared his thoughts on her 'escape' attempt. Mae held her tongue, even through the exaggerations that the Warden threw in, including the "poor officer that had been brutally kicked in a rather.. painful place". Mae had to hand in to Snyder though; the man knew how to tell a story.

Even though a few of the officers who had been present at Mae's failed running, none spoke up to defend the poor street girl in the story that Snyder was stringing alone. Not that Mae blamed them, they were probably getting a nice early Christmas bonus for their silence, no doubt.

The judge listened somewhat in a bored manner as Snyder continued and Mae thought for a minute the old man would fall asleep. A few moments later, Snyder finished his telling and waited for the judge to respond. It took the Judge a second to realize that the entire court was looking at him and the man banged his gavel loudly, startling everyone.

"I sentence Mae Harris to an additional month in confinement or the choice of a ten dollar fine," he called out, and Snyder let a smirk come over his face while Mae let out a groan.

"Confinement, sir," she mumbled sourly, not happy about the additional time she would be spending with Snyder and his goons.

"As ordered," the judge rang out and banged his gavel a last time before Snyder led Mae out of the court room with a smile plastered on his evil face.

"I do hope this will prove to be a.. helpful experience for you Miss Harris," Snyder told her as they left the court house behind and walked down the stone steps to where Mae's carriage waited for her. "Maybe now you will get the chance to become a proper lady of society."

Mae let out a snort. How was jail supposed to make a proper lady out of her? She shook her head and grinned happily at Snyder, which threw him off slightly. "Sure thing, boss."

Snyder didn't bat an eye at her sarcasm and slammed the door to the carriage loudly and Mae watched as he climbed up beside the driver. She fell back into a seat as the horse drawn crate started moving and looked out the bars forlornly and watched as the buildings passed by slowly.

_What would __Pop__ say if he saw you now?__ Huh Mae-__ster_

Denny's voice broke through Mae's thoughts and she tried to push out her younger brother's voice out of her head.

"You're going crazy, Mae," she mumbled to herself and shook her head with her eyes closed.

Mae didn't need to voice of her dead brother to remind her of her parents. She knew what they wanted of her and also knew there wasn't a way in the world that Mae would ever become anything more than a nobody. You can't change your stars, or your class for that matter. In the eyes of the world Mae would always and forever be just another street kid that's a spot of filth on an otherwise perfectly clean table cloth. There was nothing that Mae could do to change that, for if she could it wouldn't take more than a split second for her to jump at the chance.

No matter how much people denied it, everyone just wants to be accepted.

And Mae was no different.

Who wouldn't want that Christmas card life? The one filled with love and happiness and no worries about the bulls or anything else the streets had to throw at your. The kind of life that had a family in it, complete with mother, father, and kids. What Mae would give to have all that back.

Images of her childhood flooded Mae's mind and she could almost feel the warmth of the fireplace on her frozen skin at the memories of Christmas. Everyone gathered around the small tree Pop had bought for twelve cents from the boy scouts and Mam's hot apple cider while listening to Mae's Grandpa tell his stories from the Civil War. Her and Denny playing in the first snow of the year and then Mae breaking her arm on the frozen pond behind Marcus's house.

Mae shook her head as the last three years flashed through painfully. The factory closing down, Pop getting laid off. Grandpa passing away, and then the trip to New York that Mam and Pop never came back from. Denny getting sick while all Mae could do was watch and wait for what she knew was coming. With no money for medication or doctors Mae was unable to save her brother from a common cold that had turned into pneumonia. There had been nothing for Mae to do than sit back and hold her then ten year old brother's hand as it grew cold and lifeless.

That was what came along with the life Mae led, and there was nothing she could to do change it. She just had to grin and bear it while trying to make do.

Mae let out a deep sigh and leaned her head tiredly against the cold and frozen bars of the crate. "I'm trying, kid," she said tiredly. "I'm really trying."

**Reviews are like heroine, feed the addiction.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the delay in updating. My computer crapped out on me and yeah.. I just got to work again. Reviews are amazing and thanks to my reviewers from last chapter. This is a bit short than the last one, but I found it a bit amusing. Please review. ******

**I still own nothing. Its rather saddening..**

**Chapter Three**

"I'm out," Mae announced before throwing her bad hand of cards in the middle of the circle with a frown. Racetrack grinned at her and laughed, it wasn't the first time Mae had become frustrated with their game of poker. It wasn't really the bad hands she had been given, in fact some of the hands had been winning ones. It was just that Mae couldn't hold a straight face to save her life.

Every time she was given a good hand, out sprang the look of pure happiness before Mae tried to hide behind her cards, laughing almost insanely. It hadn't taken long for the other six boys playing with her to know when to call out. Mae didn't seem to care though and repeatedly asked to be dealt in again and again. After a while the boys started to find her facial expressions rather amusing, much to her expense.

"Why do I have a feeling that I'm suddenly flat out broke?" Mae questioned, looking around the circle and realizing that she was left with only a bottle cap and a single penny while the others had heaps of newly found treasures.

"No idea why that would be," Jack said almost seriously, a grin coming across his face slowly. "Not like you're losing or nothin."

"Zip it, Jack," Mae said sulkily. He patted her gently on the shoulder and turned back to the game where the others were watching on amused.

"Don't worry kid," Racetrack assured her happily, "eventually you'll be able to play wit us and actually win sometimes too."

"How thoughtful," Mae retorted, though a bit touched that the two newsies had seemed to care. "And I'm older than you!"

Mae folded out a few more times before finally giving up all together. Racetrack had laughed at her pouting face but none of the boys had given into her puppy eyes in attempts to get back her loose change and buttons.

_So much for womanly wiles._

She watched the boys play a few more hands but knew that Snyder would be calling lights out soon, so Mae headed out the door and across the hall to the bathroom. A couple minutes later the Warden's voice rang out through the refuge. Seconds later a horde of boys came crashing into the bathroom just as Mae was walking out with a smirk on her face.

_Like clockwork._

Climbing into the top bunk bed above Race's, Mae settled in for the night and waited for Snyder to turn off the lights like he did every night. The boy who had used to sleep above Racetrack had been released and Mae had jumped at the chance of moving away from her old bunk, which had no longer had Ten-Pin sleeping on the bottom. Instead, a snoring older boy had taken the young boys spot once Ten-Pin moved into the other dorm room. To say that Mae didn't get much sleep that first night would be a horrible understatement.

Jack and Race trailed in last behind the group of boys that were flooding back into the dorm from the bathroom. All around the room boys were rushing to find their bunks before the lights shut off and they would be forced to find a bunk in the dark. Jack jumped into his bottom bunk and gave Mae a cheerful wave before rolling onto his side. Race climbed into the bunk below her and fell onto it heavily, just making it before the lights flashed once and then everything went dark.

"'Night, Mae!" Jack over to her after he was sure Snyder had moved onto another dorm.

"Night, Cowboy! Night Race" she yelled back, laughing as a few other boys shouted for them to shut their pie holes.

"Night, Kid," Race called up in a somewhat sarcastic and drowsy voice.

Mae frowned into the dark. "I'm older than you!"

"SHUT UP!"

--

"I hate cleaning," Racetrack announced as he looked at the dirtied bathroom with disgust.

Mae stood behind the younger boy and winced at the sight of the bathroom she and Racetrack had been ordered to clean. There was a counter in the center of the room, which had almost brown colored sinks running on either side. Along both sides of the wall were toilet stalls, which Mae was afraid to even look at. Who knew when the bathroom had last been cleaned.

The great outcome of thinking that sneaking out of the dorm and sliding down the front banister on an oiled rag would be fun. Which it had been - until Snyder found them and ordered them to a week's worth of chores that were to be done by lights out.

"Men are pigs," she stated with a sigh. After all, this _was_ the boy's bathroom. She simply used it when needed.

"So are girls," Race retorted with a smug grin.

Mae laughed and took a tentative step into the bathroom; almost afraid something would jump out and eat her. She looked back to where Race was still standing in the doorway. "At least we bathe."

Race nodded his head and finally walked into the bathroom. "True."

He laughed at Mae's disgusted face and dodged a flying rag that she threw at him. He bent over and started to scrub the floor as Mae started on the sinks with a rag of her own. The two scrubbed in silence for a few minutes before Mae started to become bored with their tedious task. She glanced over to where Racetrack was cleaning vigorously, more than likely imagining the caked dirt he was scrubbing was Snyder's face.

A grin slowly came over Mae's face slowly as she looked at the sink and back to where Race was absorbed in his cleaning. Mae turned on the sink and cupped her hands beneath the chilling cold water and waited till her palms filled with water. Checking to see that Racetrack was still cleaning, Mae threw the ice cold water in his general direction, hoping it would hit its mark.

The loud, almost girly, scream that filled the bathroom was proof enough that the water had in fact reached Racetrack. Mae ducked down to hide behind the row of sinks and nearly burst with laughter as Racetrack came around the edge of the counter, his head dripping with water.

"MAE!" he yelled in an angered tone that only made Mae laugh harder. He looked at the still running sink and Mae didn't have time to stop the boy before a handful of chilling water seeped over her head and down the neck of her shirt.

"Racetrack!" she screamed while desperately try to swat the water out of her hair with her hands. She looked over to a smug looking Racetrack and squared her shoulders. "This is war!"

Racetrack nearly dropped his jaw as Mae quickly soaked her dirty rag with cold water and ran towards him with it, ready to whip it at him.

"Hey now!" he tried, holding his hands up in surrender. "C'mon Mae!"

Mae ignored him and swatted him with the rag as he turned to run around the counter and away from her. She managed to corner the pleading boy and swatted him again and finally couldn't lift her arm anymore because of the laughter wracking through her body. Race stared at the older girl oddly as Mae slumped onto the ground, wiping away tears of laughter. He noticed the rag lying forgotten on the ground and grabbed it quickly, whipping Mae on the head before darting away.

"No fair!" she yelled after him as Race sprinted to the other side of the sinks with a grin. Mae reached for the sink while she climbed off the ground and turned on the faucet and an evil smile. "You're going down, little man!"

Jack looked up from the old newspaper at the sounds of screams and laughter in confusion. The other boys in the dorm glanced around them, looking for the source of the noise. Slowly, following the sounds, Jack walked to the door and opened it slowly while checking for guards. Seeing none, he continued down the hall and pushed open the bathroom door carefully. Behind him were a group of boys waiting to see what the ruckus was about.

Inside the slightly cleaned bathroom revealed a huge water battle between Racetrack and Mae. The boys looked in astonishment as Mae, looking somewhat like a drowned rat, flung water towards the drenched Racetrack, who retaliated in seconds with his own water. Neither kid seemed to notice they had an audience.

Jack leaned against the doorway casually and laughed at the immaturity of the two inmates. In only a few seconds, Mae seemed to notice the group of boys watching them and dropped her wet rag in defeat, not even bothering to yell at Racetrack as he threw a handful of water in her face.

"Heh," Mae said nervously, running a hand through her tangled mess of brown locks. "Hey, guys."

"Having fun?" Jack inquired with a smirk.

The two soaked kids looked at each other for a moment before looking back to Jack and nodded together. "Loads," Racetrack informed his friend with a grin.

However, the grin fell from the boy's face when Snyder pushed his way through the group of boys and stood in shock at the mess that Racetrack and Mae had managed to make in only a half hour. Jack glanced to the frightened two inmates before giving them a small wave and backed away from the angered Warden carefully. He motioned to the other boys, who were all hoping to see some action, and together they disappeared down the hall.

"Do I even want to ask?" Snyder asked, a hand over his old face.

"Probably not," Mae said in a small voice, answering for the both of them. Racetrack nodded his agreement, not wanting to speak and make things worse than they already were.

"I want this cleaned up in an hour," Snyder said in a stern but quiet voice. He gave both children long looks that clearly told them 'or else'. He glanced over the damaged bathroom a last time before turning on his heel and strode from the room in silence. A few seconds later Mae's voice wafted down the hall to his ears.

"And the man couldn't even give us a tooth brush!"


	4. Chapter 4

**From now on, expect updates on the weekends. I'll try and update both Saturday and Sunday, but no gaurentees. This is a longer chapter, longest so far. Got some more Newsies in this. Well, one. But you all know and love him. ;) **

**I have a poll up on my profile for those of whom are fans of all my writing, not just CTS. It's just for me to get an idea which stories to update first. Vote for your favorite story, and from now on the one with the most votes gets updated first. No worries, I'll still be updating on the same day, but one story will have a chapter written and uploaded before I even work on the others. So, if you really like this, vote, and you'll get updates first:) **

**Still own nothing…**

**Chapter Four**

Mae sat in silence along with the rest of the boys as Snyder and his cronies ran frantically around the refuge, yelling as they went. Whistles rang out throughout the square as the bulls run into the dark night in search of the escapee. Mae could hear Snyder yelling above the high pitched whistles and couldn't help but smirk. That's one less pay check Snyder would get, not to mention the trouble he would get into for losing an inmate. Served the prick right, many would agree.

_Go Jack!_

Though as Mae continued to smile at the hot water Snyder was now tip toeing through, she couldn't help but wish it had been any other kid but Jack that had escaped. Racetrack was due to be released in less than a week while Mae still had three left of her sentence. She hadn't made friends with many of the other boys in the dorm, not realizing that Jack would escape a month before his sentence was up. She had been hoping to meet up with Racetrack upon her release and wait for Jack to be let go.

But apparently, those plans were long gone now.

_Damn cowboy._

--

It was nearly three in the morning before Snyder and the bulls returned to the refuge. The boys cheered loudly as they walked dejectedly back into the stone building before rushing into bed as Snyder cut power to the rooms. Mae slipped silently into her bunk, thinking of a plan for when Racetrack left her. She highly doubted there would be a way to escape the refuge, not after Jack's successful run. Any chances Mae had had to make a break for it was ruined for the price of Jack's freedom.

_At least someone got out._

Snyder would no doubt double his security at night, during the day, hell, even during a lunar eclipse. Even though he had no idea how Jack had escaped, Snyder wouldn't take any chances. How could he eat his professionally prepared gourmet food every night if all of his money making ragamuffins were escaping every other minute? No, Snyder cared too much about money to let any more kids slip through his fingers.

It was starting to look like Mae would be forced to serve out her demanded sentence and take things from there. She could always meet up with Jack and Racetrack in a few weeks, there wasn't much hurry anyways. It wasn't like she had anywhere to go. No one was waiting for her back in Chicago, expecting Mae to be back before dark. She was on her own.

Maybe for not much longer, though. Mae listened to the snores of the boys around her and instantly picked up on Race's light ones. He and Jack had accepted her instantly, showing her who to trust and who to avoid in the refuge, proving they weren't complete street rats with no manners. In fact, they had taken the impounded girl under their wing and treated her with respect. They were the type of boys you only came across every once in awhile, and Mae wasn't planning on letting them go on without her.

--

Mae was shaken awake the next morning by a bored looking officer who informed her that a visitor was there to see her. Mae stared dumbly back at the old and tired looking officer, who repeated the news twice before shaking his head and walking out of the still waking dorm. Racetrack leapt out of his bunk below her, chattering away at her luck of a visitor. The shock of the news took a few minutes and Racetrack slapping her across the face lightly before it sunk in. She climbed out of bed, uncertain as to who would be coming to see her.

She knew no one in New York, state or city. There was no one back in Chicago who liked her enough, or knew where she was, to come and see her. In jail, no less. Mae pulled on a pair of trousers, torn and beaten below the knee, over her sleeping shorts, pulled on the suspenders and preceded to the door, still confused. Even in Chicago no one had bothered to visit her in the refuge, granted, most of the time she was never brought in alone, but still. Mae shook her head. She'd find out soon enough who had come.

"So," Racetrack asked, bounding up to the confused girl enthusiastically. "Who's comin to youse?

Mae shrugged her shoulders, looking back at the eager boy, and a hand on the door. "No idea, kid."

Race shrugged his shoulders and waved to her as the officer appeared at the door to escort his friend to the visiting hall. Lucky girl, that one. Not many kids had people to come and visit them in the refuge. Most didn't even have families that noticed when they were gone for days at a time. Heck, she wasn't even from around either. Race shook his head, a small grin on his face. Lucky girl, indeed.

--

Mae flew past confused and landed roughly on completely lost. She sat across from a boy she had never seen before in her life. Ever. He did, however, seem quite popular with the officers around them. A few smirked at him while a few even saw the boy sitting in the visitor's hall and threatened to cuff him for something they knew he had done. Many of them knew him by name, suggesting he too wasn't the most innocent boy around.

Not that this, Spot Conlon, looked innocent at all.

In fact, he looked like an arrogant little bugger to Mae.

A smirk was firmly planted on his young face, though Mae wouldn't be surprised if he was older than she was, and he was slouched in his chair comfortably, not at all bothered by the fact that he and Mae didn't know each other in the slightest. Red suspenders held up his beaten trousers over a plaid shirt, the top few buttons left undone.

The two teens stared at each other in silence, neither one making the first move. Mae stared at him crucially, trying to rack her brain for any recognition of the boy sitting across from her, but kept drawing a blank.

She _really _ wanted an apple right about then, to help her think.

She had no idea who the boy sitting across her was, though he obviously knew who Mae was. It was starting to piss Mae off, a lot. The entire time she was staring at this 'Spot' kid – what was it with the lame nicknames in New York? – he smirked back at her, not helping Mae's attempts in the least. His hands hanging over the edge of his chair lazily, bothering Mae.

Could the boy _not_ slouch like a sack of potatoes?

She would laugh one day when the boy across from her was old and wrinkly, not to mention a cripple from his lack of posture. The image of her envision made Mae laugh aloud, making Spot give her a funny look.

"What?" he asked, instantly supplying Mae with the information that Spot was from Brooklyn.

The new information helped little as Mae continued to ignore Spot and searched her brain files once again. Spot Conlon. From Brooklyn. Mae shook her head as she drew another blank. Nothing.

"Do I know you?" Mae asked finally, somewhat surprising Spot with her sudden question.

He gave a laugh and shook his head, "Not that I know of, love."

Mae winced at the name but said nothing, even more confused. Did this boy have nothing better to do than walk into the refuge and ask to see her? How the hell did he know her? If she didn't know him, how did he know her? Mae eyed Spot warily, noting the laughing twinkle in his eye.

_Stalker_.

"Why are you here again?" Mae asked, knowing full well she hadn't asked a first time. If he really _was_ a stalker, screaming bloody murder would attract some kind of attention. Mae glanced around the empty hall and vacated guard posts. Or not..

"Doing a favor to a friend," Spot answered, breaking through Mae's thoughts, causing her to look back across the table and away from the empty posts.

"Friend?"

Spot nodded leaning forward a bit, leaning his head on his palm, not taking his eyes off of the still utterly confused Mae. "Mutual friend."

Mutual friend? How the hell could they have a 'mutual friend' when Mae didn't have any friends in Manhattan, or New York none the less.

_Mutual friend my ass. Where the hell are the bulls when you need them?_

Mae looked around the hall again, looking for a way to get rid of the boy before her. "Don't have any friends, buckwheat," she told Spot with a sorry but sarcastic smile/ "Sorry."

"Cowboy never said you were completely nutty," Spot announced, finally straightening up in his seat for the first time since Mae had seen him. "Although, I do think he'd be rather upset if he heard you denounce him as your friend in public, seeing as he wanted to help bust you out.."

Once again, just when Mae thought she had everything figured out and a-okay, someone had to mess things up again. What the hell was he talking about now? "Bust me out?"

Spot nodded, once again slouching back into his chair with a small smirk. "Figured you'd want to get out, something about getting caught the first time," he laughed at Mae's frown at the referral to her unsuccessful escape plan. "Seeing as he can't come get you himself, he asked a favor of ole Brooklyn."

It took a second for it to sink in; Mae was having a slow morning, to say the least. "You're here to break me out?"

Spot nodded again, smiling a bit as he watched a look of pure joy come across the younger girl's dirt smudged face. He didn't have time to react as she leapt out of her chair and somehow caught him in a hug, releasing him before Spot could to anything about it.

A blush touched Mae's face as Spot gave her an odd look, but she didn't seem embarrassed, much to Spot's surprise. He shrugged it off and stood up from his chair, only a few inches taller than Mae, which cause her to smile.

"Don't comment, kid," Spot threatened, walking towards the exit with Mae close behind him. "I'm still da King of Brooklyn. Remember that."

Mae snickered lightly, turning it into a cough when Spot turned to glare at her. He continued down the hall at a casual stroll, seemingly without a care in the world. Mae stopped at the doorway of the visitor's hall, unsure whether she was to follow.

"Uh," she called after Spot, causing him to turn, "King of Brooklyn? Bulls?" she questioned, not wanting to get caught for the second time, without even leaving the premises.

"Have no fear, love," Spot said, walking back to her and grabbing her by the wrist, "Brooklyn's got it all figured out."

Mae stumbled a bit to keep pace with the older boy but stopped short when she was pushed out the front door. Spot looked at her oddly as she took a deep breath of air and a smile spread across her face. He smiled slightly, understanding.

"Smells better, don't it?"

Mae nodded her head, eyes closed. "Freedoms the best smell there is."

Spot looked at the odd girl before him and shook his head. "C'mon Rerun," he called, walking down the front steps quickly. "Gotta get you back to Cowboy before the boy has a heart attack."

Mae took another deep breath of cold air before reopening her eyes. She looked down to where Spot was waiting for her and back to where Racetrack was no doubt watching from their window. She gave a wave to window and turned to run down the steps, running past Spot with a laugh.

"Nut job," he called after her, walking slowly behind the now skipping girl.

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